- NRL star Chad Townsend has been filmed in crazy party prep
- Halfback’s mate was ambushed while eating at a Sydney café
Footage has emerged of departing North Queensland Cowboys halfback Chad Townsend abducting one of his mates at the beginning of a wild buck’s party in Sydney.
The veteran halfback, who is set to join the Sydney Roosters next season, ambushed one of his mates in the middle of breakfast with his fiancée at a Sydney cafe.
In a clip posted to social media, Townsend’s friend is set upon from behind by three men who place a hood over his head, bind his wrists and march him away.
‘When ya boy is having breakfast with his fiancé and then gets abducted and taken on his bucks party,’ Townsend posted on Instagram alongside the video clip.
The 33-year-old, who is happily married with four children, later posted photos of the party, which had an ‘entrepreneurs’ fancy-dress theme.
The group of mates posed for photos around Sydney Harbor and outside Hyde Park House hotel in the inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst.
In July, the Roosters announced they were signing Townsend to a one-year contract for season 2025 – with the move looking very savvy now that their star halfback Sam Walker is due to miss half of next season with a serious knee injury.
‘It’s great to be adding Chad’s experience to our 2025 roster, and we look forward to welcoming him to the Club later this year,’ said Roosters Head of Recruitment Daniel Anderson.
Townsend signed a one-season deal worth a reported $300,000 with the Tricolours, who fended off interest from the Bulldogs and Super League club Catalans Dragons.
He is tipped to play a mentor role for young halves Sam Walker and Sandon Smith.
In July, footy great Paul Gallen revealed he had bad blood with Townsend and labelled his move to the Roosters ‘a surprise signing’.
‘You have arguments with blokes over time and that’s just part and parcel of life,’ he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
‘You don’t always agree with people over certain things and me and Chad had a bit of an argument a few years ago.
‘We haven’t spoken too much since, but what’s happened happens.’
The comments came after the footy enforcer turned boxer turned heads when he told 2GB Radio the pair ‘don’t get on’.
‘We won a premiership together, but don’t get on. I take my hat off to the career he’s had, he’s squeezed every bit of ability out of himself,’ Gallen told listeners on June 6.
‘Now he is getting another year at the Roosters. I find it a surprise signing.’
Speaking on Triple M’s the Rush Hour with AB & Elliott, Townsend declared there was no ill-feeling at his end.
‘There’s nothing in it, to be honest,’ he said.
‘Gal and I have spoken about it … we have cleared the air. We get along, that’s all there is to it.’
It is understood Townsend wants to work in the media once he hangs up his playing boots – and that was a key factor in his return to Sydney from North Queensland.
Townsend joined North Queensland in 2022 and helped guide the side to a preliminary final in his first season with the club.
